The European Union plans to publish the new Euro 7 regulation in July 2022. However, for it to be feasible to apply it, manufacturers consider that the Fuel Quality Directive must be updated accordingly.
The European Union is putting a lot of emphasis on decarbonizing transport through the program Fit for 55one of the key projects of the Green Deal that aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Manufacturers have already denounced on several occasions that the European Union’s obsession with electric cars is actually a political movement and not a necessity or choice of the automotive sector.
“The fuel parameters in the FQD for gasoline and diesel have not been updated since 2009”
This has caused manufacturers to invest huge amounts of money in adapt your business model to electric mobilityaccelerating your conversion plans and making far-reaching strategic decisions at all levels.
This includes the abandonment of mechanics powered by fossil fuels and the restrictive Euro 7 regulationswhich will be published in July 2022 and should enter into force in 2025, is another step in that direction.
fuel quality
In a new statement issued by ACEA, the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, they make it clear that unreservedly support the defossilization of transport by road, but that will not be possible if the program Fit for 55 not met in all areas.
Specifically, the manufacturers point out that the Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) is not updated since 2009which causes a very wide variation in their quality, which in turn results in an excessively wide range of emission levels depending on the fuel used.
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“The European Commission will publish proposals for the Euro 7/VII pollutant emission standards in July 2022, so it is correct to request that in parallel the quality of the fuel be improved to allow the engine system toexhaust aftertreatment and fuel work in harmony”requests ACEA in its statement.
“The limited fuel parameters in the FQD for gasoline and diesel have not been updated since 2009,” the European manufacturers reiterate. “In several respects, the corresponding CEN standards have not been updated quickly enough and, for some key parameters, they allow too wide fuel blend flexibility. The consequence is that monitoring the fleet for polluting emissions through Real Driving Emissions (RDE) tests, which require the use of market fuels, can be carried out in different countries with different quality of fuel»they denounce.
ACEA’s demands
According to the association of European manufacturers, “FQD should not be ignored in Fit for 55, as it can play an important role in the delivery of new fuels to help modern engines deliver lower polluting emissions and better engine efficiency (hence less CO₂).”
But, in the same way, ACEA reminds us that a better quality of fuel also results in a reduction in polluting emissions from older vehicles.
With the aim of making progress on this problem, ACEA has asked the European Union to address the following points:
- Improve key parameters of gasoline and dieselwhich will lead to better quality control and lower pollutant emissions from old and new vehicles, benefiting air quality.
- Aspire to a grade of gasoline with a guaranteed higher octane level to give guarantees that new engines will be designed with higher efficiency (and better CO₂ emissions) and that such higher octane fuels will be widely available across the EU market.
- Reject the proposed increase in diesel from B7 to B10. Keep EU diesel at B7 and instead expand opportunities for a greater mix of renewable components such as HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil).
- Introduce measures to stop the use of nitrogenous compounds (used for cheap octane boosting) because they cause engine problems.
- Introduce a new annex in FQD to establish key quality parameters for methane-based transportation fuel for the latest generation of methane engines.
- Ensuring the highest quality and consistency of fuel throughout the EU is the key factor of the FQD to meet the needs of customers.
- Today’s FQD is too permissiveso it needs to be given more capacity to ensure that the specified fuels (supplemented by the appropriate CEN standards) are sold throughout the EU.
- address these issues now in the ongoing discussions between the EU co-legislators.
Source: ACEA
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